Pasta
is architecture designed for the taste buds. Every single
shape is a brick, different in form, consistency and color,
to create an extraordinary construction, both physical
and mental, a true expression of taste...
Many schoolchildren were taught that the Venetian merchant Marco
Polo brought back pasta from his journeys in China. Another version states
that Polo discovery was actually a rediscovery of a foodstuff that was once popular
in Italy in Etruscan and Roman times. There is some evidence of a Graeco-Roman
noodle made from the same durum wheat as modern pasta called "lagane" (origin
of the modern word for lasagna). However this food, first mentioned
in the 1st century AD was not boiled like pasta. The first certain record of
noodles cooked by boiling is in the Jerusalem Talmud, written in Aramaic in the
5th century AD. The word used for the noodles was itriyah.
The oldest form of noodles, however, has been unearthed in an overturned,
sealed bowl at an archaeological site in Lajia (northwestern China). The bowl
was buried under ten feet of sediment. Unlike our durum wheat and semolina pasta,
these noodles were made from 2 varieties of millet which was highly cultivated
throughout Chinese history, dating back 7000 years. While this gives evidence
of the long Chinese history, the pasta we have eaten throughout Western history
still must have been introduced into Western diets through the Arabs. In fact,
the Arab invasions of the 8th century heavily influenced the regional cuisine
and is the most accepted theory for the introduction of pasta in Italy. The dried
noodle-like product they introduced to Sicily is most likely the origins of dried
pasta and was being produced in great quantities in Palermo at this time.

In
the world of cooking there are around 350 different types
of pasta, and probably approximately four times as many names
for them. They can be divided into few groups: long shape,
flat pasta strands, short shaped and tubular pasta, small
pasta for soup, stuffed shape, Asian type. Certain shapes
of pasta and sizes are used for specific purposes, while
others can be used in several different manners. New shapes
are also being designed and named every day. Only with the
mouth is it possible to distinguish between all the types
of pasta, without seeing them. And only with the mouth do
they develop their various characteristics that on sight
can often seem to be similar.
Food is the most ethnic thing one can imagine, therefore Italians
also express their national and regional differences through the different shapes
of their pasta. The following are just a few of the many pastas available in
Italian supermarkets...